


Six Down

by Lazuli5



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, tokka family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 08:35:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29043237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lazuli5/pseuds/Lazuli5
Summary: In my imagination, Toph is a great mother. There are five Beifong children, still Sokka wants another.
Relationships: Toph Beifong/Sokka
Comments: 4
Kudos: 26





	1. Five Down

**Author's Note:**

> So this is just my story Five Down, I thought I'd put it here as sort of a refresher is anyone wanted to read it again.

Normally, Toph Beifong woke up to the warm feeling of sunlight pouring through her window, with the sound of leaves rustling on the trees outside and the sweet smell of flowers drifting lazily into her bedroom. Her fingers were usually laced through her husband's before they fell asleep each night, but by morning they had switched to threading into his soft hair. She loved this part - her fingertips tingling as each and every one of her cells became aware of him as she woke. That was the best part of her day.

She did not normally wake up to the taste of an old sock being shoved into her mouth. 

"Wha - huh?" She gurgled, shooting straight up in bed and yanking Sokka with her, as his hair was tangled in her fingers. She spat out the sock and tried to get the taste out of her mouth. "EW!"

A chorus of giggles erupted to her right. As her feet were tucked into the blankets, she couldn't sense who it was, but it didn't take a genius to figure it out. 

"It was Lin's idea, Mommy," her second youngest daughter said.

Her oldest gasped. "It was not! Mom, it was all Keto!"

"Nuh, uh!" Her middle daughter said. "It was Koda's sock, anyway."

"Hey, I keep my socks clean!" Her oldest son yelled. "It was probably Su's, she's so dirty."

"She's the baby, what'd you expect?"

"She's not even that young, she's three!"

"Doesn't mean she can keep her clothes clean."

"She's better at it than you!"

"I have to help Thae and she's awful at cleaning!"

"She's literally six, cut her some slack."

"Look at you, sticking up for everybody! That's not like you. Are you sick?"

"Shut up, Keto."

"Shut up yourself, Lin."

"How about you both shut up?" 

"How about you all shut up?" Toph roared, silencing her children. She rubbed her fingers against her temple. "It's way too early for this."

"Actually, Mom, it's a quarter past eight," Lin said matter-of-factly. "You guys are usually up by, what, seven thirty?"

"Usually it's not your father's day off," she mumbled. Sokka laughed into his pillow next to her, then sat up and yawned.

"You guys crack me up," he said, grinning. "Who's idea was it to stuff a sock in Mommy's mouth?"

Four voices cried, "Mine!" unanimously, then four voices abruptly shouted, "No, mine!" They then began shouting at each other, their voices overlapping one another.

"All right, all right," Toph sighed, dropping her feet onto the ground up. "Su is still sleeping, don't be too loud or she'll -"

"MOMMY!"

"Ugh." She groaned and tried to flatten her hair. Sokka propped himself up on his elbow and kissed the small of her back. She smiled, hefting herself up. "I'll be back. Don't kill each other."

"I'll keep 'em in line, T!" He called after her. She raised her hand in farewell and plopped down the hall. 

As soon as she was out of sight, Sokka turned to his children and eyed them all slyly. "Now. Who's idea was it, really?"

"Mine," Lin clarified before her siblings opened their mouths. "It was me, Dad. It was Su's sock, though. Baby socks are always stinky."

He nodded, considering this. "I see. I'll tell you guys something -" He poked Keto in the stomach and she giggled "- this little girl's socks were the stinkiest I'd ever smelled!"

"Hey!" Koda protested, shoving his twin out of the way. "What about me? Were my socks stinky, Dad?"

Sokka grinned and tickled his son, who cackled and twisted his stomach. "Oh, yeah. Yours were so smelly, Mommy almost fainted!"

"No, Mommy did not!" Toph shouted from Suyin's room. "If I recall correctly, every time you took someone's shoe off, it was 'T! I CAN'T DO THIS!'"

Lin, Koda, and Keto busted out laughing. Thae joined in her siblings' giggles, though she looked thoroughly confused. Sokka glared at the door where his wife had exited.

"At least I could handle soiled diapers!" He yelled back, and her laugh echoed through the halls. It sent a cold tingle up his spine, despite the warm breeze coming in through the window.

"Ah, yes," she replied, coming back into the bedroom, leading Suyin by the hand. "Well, excuse me for not liking the smell of human waste."

"Well, this time around I'll be sure to change all the diapers," he promised.

"Sokka!" 

Too late. The kids gasped collectively, then whipped their heads around to face Toph. Their eyes burned with the question they didn't ask. She groaned.

"Can we not discuss this right now?"

"So it's true? We're having another baby?" Keto screeched. Thae clapped her hands excitedly, and Lin shouted with joy.

"Really?" Koda said, wrinkling his nose. "Don't we have enough?"

Toph nodded approvingly. "That's what I said. I mean, five is a lot."

"Well," Sokka mumbled, scratching his neck, "I mean, the twins were sort of a two-for-one, so technically we only have four."

"Hey!" The twins shouted, as Toph snorted. 

"I gave birth to them, Snoozles. Believe me, we have five."

"Are you really pregnant, Mom?!" Lin asked, running up and shoving her hands on her mother's stomach. "Are we having another baby?"

"Yeah, how about we don't slap me there," she said, swatting her hands away. "And no, we are not having another baby."

"Aw, man," she muttered. "What's one more?"

"Yes, T," Sokka said, coming over and arranging himself so that he was leaning on the wall next to her. "What's one more?"

She grunted, trying not to smile. Whenever he called her T she had to suppress a smile, especially when she wasn't supposed to be smiling. "One more means more stretch marks and another Beifong tearing up the house."

"You know I love your beauty marks," he said huskily, leaning down. She fought a blush.

"I'd love it if you didn't give me more," she stammered. Eleven years of marriage, and he still made her feel like this.

He pecked her on the lips, and she responded by deepening the kiss, actually curving her back as though she were melting into him. 

"Ew!" Lin squealed, and Koda and Keto made retching noises behind her. Suyin and Kenai tugged on her pants, pulling them apart.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Do you guys not like it when we kiss?" Sokka teased, and they screamed.

"No!"

"Then enjoy the show," he cackled, and pressed his lips against hers once more. She closed her eyes and angled her head, partly to give the effect for the kids and partly because she was aching for him.

Lin, Koda, and Keto ran down the stairs, whooping with delight, Thae leading Suyin along by the hand. Sokka didn't pull away this time until they were out the door. He went over to it, shut it, then walked back over to her, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"Fancy that," he whispered. "All alone."

"They're just downstairs," she cautioned. "Don't do anything stupid."

"Oh, I won't," he promised. "You're not stupid, after all."

She stuck her tongue out at him and he laughed, his hands shooting out and grabbing her around the waist. He lifted her up into the air and spun her in circles.

"Put me down!" She gasped, her heart speeding rapidly, though her brain was screaming, No, don't stop! "Sokka!"

He stopped, setting her gently down on her feet. "Well. When you call me that it usually means I'm in trouble."

She punched his arm. "Yeah, you are. Why would you tell them we're having another kid? You know that's what they want!"

"Not Koda," he said, trying to grab her arm. She pulled away. "And still, that's five against two. Majority rules!"

"I think that I should have the final say here. I'm the one who's gonna carry it!"

"But everyone would be such a big help. Didn't you see Lin and Keto? Even Thae? They were so excited!"

"Actually, I don't see anything."

"You know what I mean."

"They won't be so excited when it actually comes and they have to pitch in."

"Oh, come on, Lin was fabulous when Su was a baby," he cooed. She allowed him to pull her towards him, but she remained stiff. "I just know Keto would love to help her this time. Thae, too, didn't you feel how happy she was?"

She sighed, exasperated. "Yes..."

"And it's not like we can't afford it," he said, and she knew he was referring to their spacious home in Republic City. His job as a Councilman and her former job as Chief of Police helped their steady income, and saving the world when they were twelve and fifteen didn't hurt. So much had changed since the war had come to a close.

She'd had a crush on him for as long as she could remember. He hadn't even done anything, really. In the beginning, it was more that he was there, that he was an older boy, that she hadn't had any friends her whole life. But as she spent more time with him it steadily became more than that. To her surprise, she'd basically had her pick of the men when she grew up. And still she nursed a silly childhood crush on her oldest friend. Never had it crossed her mind that he might return her affections. Until he did.

She would never forget that day, so long ago now. She and all her friends, the family she'd made all on her own, were together. Katara and Aang, engaged to be married. Zuko and Suki, just four months into their relationship. And Toph and Sokka, the only single ones. Not that that was necessarily a bad thing at eighteen and twenty one, but when everyone else in your group has paired off it can make you feel a bit put out.

"Well," he'd said, turning to her after long minutes of feeling the vibrations of the couples around them making out. "We might as well give it a shot."

Eight months later they were married.

Afterward, Katara laughed and said the only reason they were together was because they were lonely, which was partly true. They weren't afraid to admit that. But they also cared about each other, and their feelings, as they'd discovered, ran far deeper than either of them had realized. Well, deeper than Sokka realized. Toph had known how she felt about him for a long time. 

When she was twenty Toph became pregnant with Lin, and that set off their course for children. Three years later they had the twins, and two years after that Thae was born. Suyin was the last Beifong to make an arrival, and she told herself that was quite enough. Sokka wasn't so sure, and she had to admit his persuasion was powerful. 

"True," she admitted in response to his comment about their financial situation. 

"See? It's perfect."

"I'm thirty years old, Meathead. And I have five kids. Most people would consider that already perfect."

He sighed, and she felt his heartbeat slow down. He was disappointed, and who could blame him? She felt a twinge of guilt.

"You're right, you're right," he said dejectedly, rubbing her arms. "I'm sorry. It's really up to you. I won't push you anymore, I promise."

She blinked. He'd been asking her for so long, she wasn't sure she'd anticipated him ever giving up. "Really?"

"Yeah." 

"You're done? You're really not asking anymore?"

He kissed her cheek, and felt his smirk under his lips. "Nope. If you say no, then it's a no."

"Huh." She pondered this for a few minutes, then sighed and pushed him down onto the bed.

"Hey! Wh - T, what -?"

"You know I can't resist you when you tell me I'm right, Snoozles," she said slyly. She felt his breathing even out as she spread her hands over his chest, and felt it rise up and down as he gave a low chuckle.

"You're the boss," he mused, pulling her down on top of him. She laughed into his mouth as he kissed her firmly, ripping open his shirt as he undid the buttons on hers. 

"Darn right," she whispered. He moved to kissing her neck, and she closed her eyes, thinking that maybe another kid wasn't the worst thing in the world.

-

Three weeks later, Toph awoke without a dirty sock in her mouth, her hand clenching Sokka's hair. She smacked her lips and tried to get the taste of her own breath out of her mouth. There was a strange metallic taste corroding her taste buds.

She blinked and yawned, scratching her neck. To her right Sokka stirred, and Toph felt the familiar kiss on the small of her back that she received every morning.

"Morning," he said huskily.

"Yeah, yeah," she muttered, easing herself out of bed and rummaging around the room, putting on her clothes. She felt his eyes follow her everywhere she went, and she fought a blush. Katara said that he had "eye love" for her. She said it meant that he couldn't take his eyes off of her. She had scoffed at the time, but she secretly searched for it every day now.

So far he hadn't disappointed her.

When she had pulled on her last article of clothing, he finally got out of bed himself and wrapped his arms around her waist. She twisted around the face him and put her arms around his neck. And slowly they began to dance.

They didn't need to speak. She burrowed her nose into his neck and he laid his head on top of her hair and together they moved to their own rhythm. No music, no beat, no children. Just them. Toph. Sokka. The two of them, together. Swaying to the movement of each other's bodies. 

He moved his hands to her hips, and she closed her eyes. This was the part of her morning that she liked the best. It didn't always happen, but when it did, she was in a good mood for the rest of the day. She breathed more evenly, she was easier with the kids, and she wasn't as anxious for his arrival at the end of the day. This was her safe place, her haven.

After a few moments of silence, they stopped, and Sokka bent down to press their foreheads together. Their noses just brushed gently, and she smiled.

"I love you," he said.

"Love you, too," she murmured back. He kissed the top of her head and let go of her slowly and surely, allowing her to savor every tingling sensation that occured as her skin burned with his touch.

The quiet was shattered as a shriek erupted from down the stairs, and Toph sighed. "Guess I should go down there."

"Good luck, mama," he teased, and she smirked. She headed for the door, pausing at the frame. She blinked a few times.

"T?" He called over to her. "You good?"

She shook her head, placing her hand on her stomach. "Yeah... yeah, I'm good."

"Are you sure?"

"Don't worry so much, Snoozles. I'm fine," she responded, though she had a sneaking suspicion what might be the problem. There was more than one heartbeat inside of her.

She waved him off and climbed down the stairs to find that Lin had taken care of business already. She heard her clinking and clanking at the table and knew she was setting the table for breakfast.

Suyin was in her earth-woven playpen on the floor, her rattle in her hand. When she threw it and it landed outside the fence, she wailed so loudly the dirt around her quaked. A baby earthbender was a dangerous thing.

The twins were with Thae near a window, trying to get her to bend the rain falling outside. She, only being six, couldn't do it very well. Koda laughed at her and Keto sneered that if she was going to be a bender then she should at least be a good one.

As she was surveying the situation she heard Sokka come down and stand beside her. She sighed. "You help Su, I'll deal with them," she told him. He nodded and went to retrieve her rattle, taking care to avoid the cracks she had made.

"Okay, all right," Toph said, coming in between Koda and Thae. "Cool it, you two."

"But, Mom," Keto protested, "We just wanted to see Thae waterbending."

"Well, then you might have to wait a few years," she replied, patting her daughter's head as she came up and put her arms around her legs.

"Ugh," Koda pouted. "How come they all get to be benders? Why aren't we benders, Mom?"

"That's just the way it is." Toph shrugged. "Dad's not a bender, and that didn't stop him from becoming who he is."

"What, a loser?"

"I heard that!" Sokka called from Su's pen. He was now seated inside it, shaking the rattle in front of his daughter's face.

"I meant for you to!" Keto called back. She turned to face her mother. "Mom, it isn't fair. Everyone else in this family is a bender. Even Su! Why can't me and Koda be benders too?"

She threw her hands in the air. "I don't know. Some stuff just can't be explained."

"Hmph." This didn't satisfy the twins, who exchanged a look and went whispering together off to their room.

Toph sighed. This wasn't the first time Koda and Keto had approached her with the question of their bending abilities, and she had to admit she could see why they would be upset. Lin and Suyin were earthbenders like her, and Thae was a waterbender to carry on Sokka's tribe. When each one was born, she had been able to tell what sort of bender they would be, just as she could tell where everything was through seismic sense. But when she took the twins in her arms for the first time, she felt nothing. No solid feel that defined an earthbender, no swift defiance that registered a waterbender. They were simply there.

Sokka tried to talk with them, tried to encourage them that they didn't need bending in order to be successful, but they hardly thought he was the ideal nonbender. They insisted that they wanted to be like their siblings. That was part of the reason Toph knew Koda didn't want another one, for he feared it would just be another bender. And yet she knew that that was why Keto wanted one, in the hopes that maybe it would be normal like her.

She mulled over this as she approached Su's pen. Sokka was now laying on his back with the baby on his stomach, tickling under her chin. Suyin was squealing a little-girl squeal, and Toph smiled at the sound.

"Toph," he said, but it was slightly muffled, as Suyin had just stuffed her fist into his mouth. He wrinkled his nose and growled playfully, trying to swallow her fist.

She smirked. "You must taste pretty good, huh, Su?"

She grinned up at her mother. "Sea prunes," she said.

"You taste like sea prunes? Gee, no wonder he hasn't spit you out. Pretty sure he's the only one on the planet who likes 'em."

Sokka gently removed Su's fist from his mouth. "Pretty sure Katara likes them, and my father, and the whole Southern Water Tribe."

Toph shrugged. "If you say so."

"I do." He stood up, placing Suyin gently down. She toddlers over to the edge of the pen and Thae came running over, entwining their fingers together. "And now I think I know what we should have for lunch!"

"Ergh." Toph felt her stomach churn at the thought of eating sea prunes. She closed her eyes as a painful wave of nausea came over her.

"T?" Sokka asked, his voice worried. She didn't answer, barely making it to the kitchen before retching into the first thing she would find - a vase. Her throat burned with the sour taste.

When she finished and had rinsed her mouth out, she stumbled to her knees and discovered her entire family crowded around her, Sokka holding Thae's hand, Suyin on Lin's hip, and Koda and Keto's arms hooked.

"Mama?" Thae asked hesitantly.

"I'm okay, guys," she croaked. "I just..." Her eyes bulged as she clamped her hand to her mouth.

"Okay," Sokka said hurriedly. "Guys, let's go upstairs, come on, come on -"

She managed a grateful smile at him before heaving into the vase once more.

Finally her stomach settled enough for her to slump down onto the floor. She wiped her hand across her mouth, then moved it to her sweaty brow. She hadn't thrown up like that since she had carried Su, nearly four years ago. The metallic taste, the dizziness, the nausea.... the heartbeat. She caught her breath.

Oh, Spirits, she thought to herself and resisting the urge to facepalm. This is just great.

"Toph?" Sokka's voice echoed through her ears, and she realized he was right next to her. She struggled to her feet, feeling his strong arms help her up.

"Whoa, whoa, easy," he said. She steadied herself and he clasped her hand. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Um... I threw up, genius. What do you think?"

"Oh." He deflated. "I thought - well, I thought maybe -" He shook his head. "Never mind."

"I know what you were thinking," she said. "You were thinking you and Lin and Keto and Thae were going to get your wish."

She could practically feel his blush, and did sense his heart rate pick up. "Well, yeah, but really, can you blame me?"

"No, I guess not," she sighed. Here goes nothing. "Especially since it came true."

His pulse skipped a beat, and she smirked. His grip on her hand tightened.

"You - you're going to -?"

"Yep."

"You're sure?"

"Yep."

"How do you know?"

"How did I know with Lin? How did I know with the twins? How did I know with Su, with Thae? I just do." She patted his hand. "Congratulations, Papa."

"This is unbelievable," he whispered. "Suddenly I love you a hundred times more." He knelt to the ground and placed his hand on her stomach.

"Is it really that hard to believe?" she mused as he patted her skin. "I mean really, all things considered -"

"You're missing the point," he said. "We're going to have another baby."

"Uh, yeah. How are we going to tell them?" She cocked her head to the side. "What did you do with them anyway?"

"Oh, they're all in Su and Thae's room. They're fine, just a little shaken up. Pretty sure Lin's the only one who really remembers what that sort of thing means."

"Yeah, I guess." She sighed and hunched over, like the weight of her unborn child was already too much. "Do you think we should do it?"

"Do what?"

"Have the baby."

She felt his grip on her tighten. "What do you mean? What other choice do we have?"

"Katara told me about abortions. They're much safer now."

"What?" He released his grip on her entirely. "Toph, what the hell are you talking about? Don't you want this baby?"

"Um... have you been paying attention at all the last five months?"

"But that was before you got pregnant! Now you are, what's the problem?"

Toph sighed. How could she make him understand? "I'm tired, Sokka. I'm tired of feeling like shit, and now I'm going to feel even shittier. We have five kids. When will it be enough for you?"

"But - but -" he seemed at a loss for words. "But you're already pregnant. Why would we - why would you do that?" His voice was so broken up that she closed her eyes, unable to take it.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, trying to grab his hand again. He pulled away. "I'm sorry."

"I just... I can't believe you would even think about doing that."

She narrowed her eyes. "Well, excuse me for maybe not wanting to lug around an extra sixty pounds for nine months. Excuse me for thinking of myself and my body for a change."

"For a change?" He laughed a harsh, un-Sokka-like laugh. "That's all you ever do! You're selfish!"

"I'm the selfish one? You're the one who's been pestering your wife for the last half a year for a baby that you don't even have to carry!"

"Are you saying I wouldn't do anything for them? You're saying you'd do all the work?"

"Yeah, maybe I am! You're horrible at parenting, which one of us refused to punish Lin and Keto because they're 'your baby girls?'"

Toph triumphed at the defeat in his voice. "Okay, yes, but it's not like they did anything illegal!"

"They were dangling Thae out the window by her feet, Sokka! I think that at least deserves a time out!"

"It was the first floor! And I'm not good at punishments, okay? You're better at that stuff."

"Yeah." She huffed. "I'm the bad guy."

"That's not what I meant."

"You're better with them than I'll ever be."

He physically softened, and she felt his anger deflate. "Toph, you're good with them, too."

"They love you. They tolerate me."

"T..." He came over and wrapped his arms around her. "Is that what this is really about?"

She burrowed her face into his chest and breathed in his musky, familiar scent, willing herself not to cry. This was her safe place when things got bad.

"I just..." she tried to out her feelings into words. "I don't want to let them down. I can't... I don't..."

"Okay, okay," he said softly, tilting her head back so that she could imagine him looking into her eyes. He had said they were green.

"You," he said firmly, "are an amazing mother."

She didn't respond, lost in her thoughts, in her doubts. Sure, she knew her kids loved her, and she loved them. Maybe she didn't show it enough. Maybe that's why they all leaned on Sokka for support. Maybe that's why she always felt like she wasn't good enough, like she was disappointing them somehow. Like she was disappointing Sokka by being a bad mother to his children.

"I mean it."

"I know you do," she said, flexing her toes onto the ground. He wasn't lying.

"I love you."

"I... I love you."

He pushed her away from his chest, but his breathing was hot on hers and she senses he was examining her. "Why did that feel like a hesitation?"

She let out a low chuckle and thudded her head against him. "I love you. You know I do. It's just that... you said... you said I'm a good mom..?"

"The best."

She nodded slowly, raising her chin so that she could face him and closing her eyes. "Th - thanks."

He laughed, and she blushed. "Thank you? Did Toph Beifong just say thank you?"

"I wouldn't dwell on it too much," she muttered. "And this wasn't exactly the lunch I had planned for today."

He kissed the crown of her head, and Toph felt all her worries fly away as his lips left her hair. "Don't worry, my love. We have the rest of our lives."


	2. The Tale of Lin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ten-year-old Lin babysits her siblings while her parents go out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay first of all can I just say that I'M SO PROUD OF MYSELF FOR THINKING OF "THE TALE OF____" okay that's all. Enjoy Lin's chapter, and let me know what you think!

"...and Suyin's asleep, so try not to wake her up, okay?" Lin's father finished as he pulled his cloak on. "That goes for the twins, too, tell them that."

"I will. And I know, Dad, I've got this," Lin said exasperatedly. It always took him forever to leave anywhere, a fact that annoyed her as well as her four siblings. And their mother, though she wasn't as quiet about it.

"Come on, Snoozles, we're going to be late again!" she complained, tugging on her husband's sleeve harder than she usually did.

"Relax, T, it's just a board meeting, it's not like they'll start without you," he said. "Now, Linny, if Thae tries to waterbend again and she gets upset, just tell her that these things take time and she's still got her whole life ahead of her, okay?"

"I know, Dad."

"Sokka!"

"I just have a few more things to tell her."

"We have to go! Besides, she's ten, she's a big girl, she can handle herself."

He still looked unsure. "I don't know... Maybe we should've just dropped them off at Aang and Katara's."

"What, for an hour? They'll be fine, let's just go?"

"But what if there's an emergency?"

"Like what? What could possibly happen?"

"Well... I mean..."

"Exactly. Su will be fine, Thae will be fine, the twins will be fine. Look at my little badgermole." Toph ruffled her dark hair, and she grinned. Praise from her mother was something she never grew tired of. "She'll take care of it."

"Well, excuse me for being worried about, you know, our children!"

"Fine, you're excused. Let's go!"

"T!"

Lin rolled her eyes as her parents continue to bicker, which was what they did most often. Always over the stupidest things, too, like which of them had left the stove running or who was supposed to put Suyin to bed that night. When she was younger, it worried her. She used to think that the fighting meant her parents didn't love each other, or maybe never did. When they really got into it, she would round up her siblings and take them to her room. Not because she was afraid one of them would lash out at their children, but simply because she didn't want them to grow up with the same thoughts she had.

One day, when she and her family were on Air Temple Island visiting their cousins, they were going at it especially bad, screaming and yelling about something so small. Lin remembered the tears that had welled up in her eyes as she watched them fight from her bedroom window, so hot and so heavy, spilling out over her cheeks. Why did they have to fight? Why couldn't they love each other? Finally, they had split, her mother stalking over to Suyin, only a month old at the time, and her father left in a corner of the courtyard.

She had felt a hand on her shoulder then, and she had whipped around, her fists clenched, prepared for an attack, just like her mother had taught her. It was only her Aunt Katara, though, and she relaxed before she remembered she was standing there crying. Hastily she wiped her tears away.

Katara had smiled, her blue eyes gentle, so like that of her father's and her sister Thae's. "Look," she said.

"At what?" she'd asked, her voice shaky the way it got when she was upset.

"At them," she replied, gesturing out the window to her parents. Lin followed her outstretched hand to her mother, who was cooing and laughing with her baby sister. "No. At Sokka, honey."

Sokka, even seven-year-old Lin knew, was her father, so she directed her gaze at him instead. He was crouched on the ground, Thae tugging on his arm, but his eyes were fixed on something else.

Her mother.

"Do you see the way his eyes follow her?" Katara whispered.

It took Lin a while to answer because she was transfixed on her parents. Her father. Now that she thought about it, he looked at her like that all the time. How had she never noticed? "Yes," she breathed.

"He has eye love for her," she had explained. "Remember that when they fight, okay, Linny?"

"Okay."

She'd smiled, given her a hug, and left. And Lin had sat there, watching her father watch her mother. She watched Thae eventually give up, and her father not even notice her leave. She watched her mother finally come over to him, grab his hand, punch his arm, and kiss his lips. And she watched them hold each other like they couldn't stand to be apart.

That was the day she truly saw her father's love for her mother, and that was the day she stopped worrying about it. Sure, they still fought, but there was a passion to their anger, a fire to their words. And now that she knew to look for her father's watchful eyes, she knew that they would be okay. They always ended the same way - in each other's arms.

Plus, the fact that they had five kids and one on the way clued her into the fact that they couldn't possibly hate each other. She had learned that the hard way.

She blinked, and her vision came back into focus. Whatever her parents had been arguing about they had evidently resolved; their arms were around each other tightly.

"Um, guys?" she said, coughing slightly. "Don't you have someplace to be?"

They broke apart, her father looking sheepish and her mother looking smug. "Right. We'll see you in an hour."

"Okay. Bye!"

"Bye! Be good for your sister, kids!" Sokka yelled as Toph shoved him out the door. "I'm looking at you, Keto!"

"Hey!"

"Night!" The door slammed, and Lin backed up against it, sighing in relief. She went over to the small window beside the door and watched her parents walk away, just catching a glimpse of her father tucking her mother's cloak over her stomach.

Just a few weeks ago, they had made the announcement that they were, in fact, having another baby. Lin could barely contain her excitement. This was the fifth time her mother had been pregnant, but it was only the second one she really remembered. She had only been two when the twins were born, and four with Thae. Suyin's she thought she could picture pretty vividly. She grinned at the thought of another sibling.

Something nudged her arm, and she looked down to see Keto's face pressed against the window, her mouth turned down as she watched Toph and Sokka round the corner. "I thought you said Mom was going to be big, Linny."

"She will be. Give it a few months."

"Mom's going to get fat?" Koda said, popping up behind his twin. She growled and pulled him over her shoulder.

"Yeah," Lin explained. "But, like, only in her belly. It's weird."

Koda wrinkled his nose. "Sounds like it."

"I think it's great!" Keto squealed, tickling him and cackling as he shrieked with laughter. "I can't wait. When will the new baby be here, Lin?"

"Seven more months, Keto," she said for maybe the hundredth time. "Remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, I remember."

"Then why can't you keep it in your head for more than five seconds?"

"I don't want another baby," Koda grumbled, interrupting them. "I like things how they are."

"Sorry, but you don't have much of a choice," Lin said. "And anyway, how can you not be excited? We're getting a new baby brother!"

"Or sister," Keto added.

"Whatever. I want another boy."

"Well, I want another nonbender, girl or boy."

"What's wrong with bending?"

"Nothing. Except for everything."

"That doesn't even make sense!"

"Neither does your face!"

"Keto!"

"Lin!"

"Both of you, shut up!" Koda hissed. "Su's asleep, remember?"

Lin remembered her job and blushed furiously. "Right. Just - just go check on Thae, okay? I'll be right back."

They nodded and raced off, while she made her way up the stairs and into the room Suyin shared with Thae. She peeked through the door, but her sister was fast asleep. She took a few seconds to watch her chest move up and down, her chubby fingers twirling her hair, before quietly shutting the door and going back down.

When she arrived, there was no sign of the twins and Thae was sitting on the floor crying.

"Thae!" she cried, rushing to her side. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Koda... Koda and Keto..." she wailed, grabbing her sister's hands. "They were being mean... making fun..."

"Shh... you're okay, you're okay," Lin whispered. She gently picked her up and set her on her hip, which was no small feat as Thae was six, but she managed. The little girl hiccuped and buried her head in Lin's shoulder.

"Do you want to go to bed?" she asked softly, and Thae nodded. "Okay, then. Up we go."

Lin took her up the stairs and into her bedroom. Together they did a silent dance around the perimeter, dressing Thae for bed and tucking her in and kissing her goodnight. She just caught her sister hugging the small doll their Aunt Suki had given her before shutting the door, giggling quietly. She then went back downstairs, determined to find the twins. Off she went, on a hunt throughout her house.

The first place she checked was the kitchen, but they weren't in there. Lin checked every cupboard, in the stove, under pots and pans. Nothing. She got up, and her eyes caught her father's fanciest plate on the table. With a startled laugh, she remembered one of her favorite memories. It had been her mother's birthday, and she, her father, and her siblings were attempting to bake a cake for her.

"Dad, why are we even making this all fancy?" she recalled Koda asking. "It's not like Mom can see it, anyway."

"Because we love her, that's why," Sokka had replied, his tongue out in concentration as he delicately frosted a section of the cake. Koda looked at Keto and they nodded mischievously.

"Let's just take it up already!" she'd said, her six-year-old hands snatching the dish with surprising agility. Koda cackled and grabbed the other end, and together they darted out of the kitchen.

"Hey! Hey, wait! I wasn't done with that!" her dad screeched, dashing after them. "Koda! Keto! Get back here!"

Their giggles echoed down the hall, and Lin rolled her eyes. She picked Suyin up, took Thae's hand, and followed them. She had just passed the doorframe when she heard a shriek, followed by gales of uncontrollable laughter. Hurriedly she had run down the hall, practically dragging Thae with Suyin bouncing on her hip. 

Her father was standing there, dripping from head to toe, covered in their mother's birthday cake. It bobbed in his hair, and the green icing he had so carefully traced was now smashed against his cheek. He looked like a cake had thrown up on him.

Keto had rushed upstairs to tell their mother, who had snorted and said that she wished she could see it. Instead, the twins described it in great detail for her. She still remembered the tenderness in Toph's eyes as her children told her the story. That had been one of the few times Lin wasn't angry at them.

She shook her head now, moving on to the wide porch in the back of their house. The twins weren't outside, either, but when she kicked a rock on the ground she recalled the first time she'd earthbent, right here on this porch. She'd been six years old, and she hadn't done much else than lift a rock in the air. But her mother had clapped, swooping her up and hugging her tighter than she ever had before or since.

"Sokka!" she'd called out. "Lin did it! She did it!"

Her father had rushed outside, whooping in delight, then put his arms around them both. A group hug, he'd said. That was still her fondest memory.

Moving on, Lin tackled the upstairs, first searching her own room, then the twins'. Still nothing, She sighed exasperatedly. Where were they? They had better show their ugly faces before their parents got home. She passed her mother and father's bedroom, but they weren't in there either. She paused at the doorway, which was wide open, and stared inside. Another memory popped into her mind.

She had been around three, maybe four. Very young, at any rate. This was probably her earliest memory. The twins had just been born a few months prior. She remembered walking past this same doorway, the door propped open just as it was now. Inside, no surprise, were her parents, but it was what they were doing that made her stop in her tracks.

They were dancing. 

Quietly, silently, peacefully dancing. There was no music. Just them. Toph's arms around his neck, Sokka's head resting on hers. Swaying to their own beat, their own rhythm. Entirely lost in each other.

At the time, Lin was still doubting her parents' love for each other, and she didn't quite understand what they were doing. Well, she knew they were dancing, but it was why that confused her. Dancing, she knew, involved music, and yet there was none. They were just moving around, slowly and quietly. She'd watched them for a while, then left. 

The memory stayed with her throughout her childhood, all the way up until that fateful day that Katara had taught her to really look at her parents. And now, at ten, she understood the way they conveyed their affection toward one another. Maybe it wasn't the same way Katara and Aang did, or her Aunt Suki and Uncle Zuko. But it still was there, and that had to count for something.

She took one last glimpse of her parents' room before moving on, anger seeping into her. When she got her hands on those two... why did they have to do this? Why did they have to play pranks? What was the fun in it? Sure, she enjoyed it when they teamed up with her to take out their parents, but when they used their power against her, well, that was no picnic. She growled under her breath as she passed Thae and Suyin's room once more. Then she paused, turning her head toward the door. Little giggles were emerging from within.

"I swear..." she mumbled, pushing the door open. Inside, Suyin was still in her crib, sleeping peacefully. On Thae's side, however, she discovered the missing twins. Koda was holding a bowl of water, a grin curling his face as Keto held a second one, in the motion of pouring it on top of their sleeping sister.

"Koda! Keto!" Lin whisper-shouted. 

Startled, Keto yelped and threw the bowl up into the air, not unlike the time she had when they were baking her mother's cake. The water sloshed noisily, bounced in the air for a moment, then came crashing down, soaking Lin from head to toe. 

Keto snorted, and Koda joined her, but Lin was seething, her breathing heavy, her hair and clothes dripping.

"What on Earth are you two doing?" she said, struggling to keep her voice down. Thae turned in her sleep.

Koda opened his mouth to answer, but she silenced him with a look. She jerked her head at the door, and single-file they marched out and downstairs. As Keto passed her on the stairs, Lin shoved the empty bowl in her hands. When they reached the kitchen, she allowed her voice to grow a bit.

"Well? What the flameo were you doing?!"

"Oh, so Thae can play with water, but we can't?" Keto huffed.

"Wha - she's a waterbender! It's different!"

"How?" Koda countered.

"For one thing, she doesn't dump water on her siblings while they're sleeping!"

"So what? That doesn't mean she hasn't thought about doing it!"

"Are you kidding me right now?"

"No!"

Lin snarled, the twins grumbled, and their voices grew higher and higher as their argument grew. Before long, shouts turned the screams, and their words filled up every room in the house.

"Linny?"

Abruptly they stopped shrieking, and Lin turned to see Thae standing on the landing, clutching her doll, its tiny face painted red and white to honor the Kyoshi Warriors. Her face was twisted in concern.

Lin glared at the twins before going over to her and putting her arms out to hug her. Thae pushed her away, though, her eyes wide with wonder. "You're all wet," she remarked.

Lin sighed. "Yeah. Here, Thae, I'll dry off and then -"

"I can dry you off!" she interrupted excitedly, throwing her doll down and shutting her eyes in concentration. Lin realized what she was trying to do and gently put her hand on her shoulder, remembering what her father had told her to do if Thae tried to waterbend.

"I don't know, Thae. Why don't you try again some oth - other... time..." she drifted off as she watched in amazement. Thae's hands moved up and down gracefully, and so did most the water, lifting itself off of her shirt. Some of it stayed behind, mostly on her legs, but her hair and shirt were dry.

"Thae! I - I can't believe it. You did it!"

Thae opened her eyes and gasped, clapping her hands together. "I did it! I did it!"

"Whoa," Koda said, clearly impressed. He addressed his sister. "That was pretty cool, Thae."

"Yeah," Keto chimed in. "I've never seen you do something like that before!"

Thae beamed at their praise, and the three of them chattered excitedly for a few minutes as Lin watched. She, too, was surprised, but not just at her sister's bending skills. She'd never seen the twins so... calm. Especially with Thae. Especially when not ten minutes previously they had tried to dump water on her head. Yet here they were, complimenting her to no end. She shook her head.

"Okay, that's enough excitement for one night," she said. "Go upstairs and get to bed. I'll get Thae."

They paraded up the stairs, and Lin put her sister to bed once more, making one trip downstairs to retrieve her doll before kissing her again and shutting the door. She passed the twin's room and glimpsed them whispering together in their bed. Smiling softly, she shut their door and went back down to await her parents' arrival.

She didn't have to wait long. Their heavy footsteps soon pounded against the ground as they came inside and hung up their cloaks, for once not arguing. The meeting must have been a success.

"How did it go?" Sokka asked anxiously as he helped his wife into a chair. She swatted his hands, sitting down herself and immediately slouching down. From this angle, Lin could just barely make out a bump.

"It was -" she began, then caught sight of Koda and Keto peeking their heads through the landing from upstairs. Anxiety was written all over their faces, and suddenly Lin wasn't angry anymore.

"It was perfect," she finished firmly, and her father sighed in relief.

"Told you so," her mother grinned, and Lin subtly winked at the twins. They grinned and raced back to their bedroom, and for once, she didn't mind.


End file.
